Monarch joins PM in expressing condolences to Cameron family

26 FEBRUARY 2009Queen Elizabeth and Gordon Brown have led an outpouring of messages of condolence to Conservative party leader David Cameron and his wife for the loss of their son Ivan, who passed away suddenly on Wednesday.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed the British monarch sent a private message to the Cameron family upon hearing of the death of the six-year-old, who suffered from epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

In the House of Commons the usual Prime Minister's questions session was replaced by Gordon Brown leading MPs in expressing their sorrow.

"Our condolences go out to David, to Samantha, and to the Cameron family," Mr Brown said. "I know that in an all too brief young life he brought joy to all those around him and I know also that for all the days of his life he was surrounded by his family's love."

"Every child is precious and irreplaceable and the death of a child is an unbearable sorrow that no parent should ever have to endure," added the PM, whose own daughter Jennifer Jane died in 2001 when she was just ten days old.

Fellow Conservative member William Hague also offered sympathetic words. "As David has said in the past, he will always be their 'beautiful boy'."